‘He was actually trying to pretend to be a respectable company’

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This article was published 18/09/2024 (476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The director of Bison Towing says his company’s decals were stolen and used by a suspect apparently posing as a legitimate tow truck driver.

The magnetic stickers are now in the hands of city police, who seized more than a dozen stolen vehicles from a private compound in a West Alexander area earlier this month, Zakria Shoaib said.

“He was actually trying to pretend to be a respectable company in the city, which is us as Bison Towing,” Shoaib said.

In a news release Wednesday, the Winnipeg Police Service said officers were patrolling on the 200 block of Tecumseh Street on Sept. 7 when they spotted a 2006 Ford F350 parked in an enclosed compound.

Police obtained a search warrant and found an assortment of stolen vehicles, including two tow trucks, five pickup trucks, three motorcycles, two off-road vehicles, a Jeep and a camper trailer. Additional tools, equipment, Manitoba licence plates, personal identification documents and other items were also discovered.

Investigators believe the recovered property was stolen from Winnipeg and surrounding rural communities between June 4 and around Sept. 5.

The Bison Towing decals were among the last items reported stolen, according to the release.

Shoaib is planning to retrieve the decals from investigators this week. He realized they were missing after somebody broke into a company tow truck, he said.

“He tried to steal our truck as well, but for some reason he couldn’t start it. Then he just ran away with the decals,” Shoaib said. “We don’t know exactly what the motives were of that guy.”

The company later received pictures from “citizens” showing the decals affixed to a tow truck that did not belong to Bison Towing, Shoaib said.

He said the photo evidence was turned over to police.

It is unclear whether the decals were ever used during the commission of a crime.

A suspect was arrested with the help of Stonewall RCMP on Sunday. Investigators believe he did not act alone, and further arrests are expected.

Vincent John Jose Oliveira, 38, of Winnipeg has been charged with 16 counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, eight counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, and two counts each of possession of credit card and possession of an identity document. He was detained in custody.

Police said the suspect was renting the Tecumseh compound from a private owner, who was unaware of the criminal activity occurring on the property.

A woman living on the street identified the compound as a fenced lot belonging to her neighbour. The neighbour confirmed he owns the lot, but declined to comment further.

The woman said a man who went by the name “Jose” was living inside a camper trailer parked on the lot for around three or four months. He introduced himself to her and her husband and paid them a small amount of money to store vehicles in one of their spare parking spots.

“He said he fixed vehicles. He bought them cheap, fixed them, sold them for more money — that’s what he told us… I said, ‘Holy, how many trucks do you need?’” said the woman, who asked not to use her name.

“We didn’t know anything either. It was just a surprise to see all of the police here… it looked crazy and we thought something really bad happened.”

A review of court records shows Oliveira has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2015. Several of his previous convictions involve possessing property obtained by crime.

In May 2023, he pleaded guilty to fleeing from police in a stolen Peterbilt box truck — sparking a chase that stretched from Jefferson Avenue and King Edward Street, through the Seven Oaks, River East and Transcona areas.

Police punctured the truck’s tires in an effort to force Oliveira to stop, but the chase continued until the driver lost control and crashed into a snowbank, court heard.

Oliveira was sentenced to two years in custody, placing his expected release date around December 2024 with credit for time served. It’s unclear when Oliveira was released, but with good behaviour, he would have been eligible for early parole around May.

A pre-sentence report submitted to the court said Oliveira had experience as a roofer and once operated a home renovation company. He suffered from an addiction to drugs, namely methamphetamine, that spurred his criminal behaviour, it said.

His family largely cut ties with him due to his drug use and his association with peers who encouraged him to commit crimes, Crown prosecutor Scott Cooper said.

“He does well in jail, and that’s not rocket science because he’s not, presumably, getting a lot of drugs in jail,” Cooper said during the hearing. “Until he gets a hold of that drug habit, he’s going to be back here — he knows it, I know it.”

Oliveira was charged in 2022 after city police found him behind the wheel of a stolen 2002 GMC Sierra while investigating reports of suspicious activity on the 500 block of Pipeline Road.

Officers found $154,000 worth of stolen goods, including a Mercedes-Benz car, two camping trailers, an enclosed trailer, an off-road vehicle, a motorcycle and a skid steer.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca